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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28900602">i thought the warmth would maybe last (but now i'm left in chains)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lineal/pseuds/Lineal'>Lineal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>poem fics! [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(okay mayhaps thats yet another reason i kin him oops), Ambiguous/Open Ending, Based on a Poem, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, iwa i love you but denial can only get you so far, oikawa pls go save your man</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:15:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>993</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28900602</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lineal/pseuds/Lineal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>you led me on and on<br/>like a warm december wind<br/>i was fooled like a naïve azalea<br/>who bloomed despite your sin<br/>and though the times are changing<br/>the frost is setting in<br/>i refuse to freeze and wither and die<br/>i refuse to let you win<br/>and so i soldier past<br/>as ice seeps in my veins<br/>i thought the warmth would maybe last<br/>but now i’m left in chains</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>poem fics! [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i thought the warmth would maybe last (but now i'm left in chains)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephbethallen/gifts">stephbethallen</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephbethallen">stephbethallen's</a> poem!!!</p><p>sighhhh,,,, bro you wrote about a flower and probably unrequited love what did you think i was going to do /lh</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Oikawa Tooru is, in the simplest and nicest terms that Hajime can come up with, a mystery, a pain, and frankly, something he wants nothing to do with.</p><p> </p><p>He’s an incomplete puzzle that Hajime’s been trying to put together all his life, with pieces that always seem to be appearing and vanishing despite Haijme’s attempts to grab on and push them into place. He’s always missing something, whether it’s big or small, and all of Tooru’s habits and strange quirks aren’t helping in the slightest.</p><p> </p><p>At all.</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes, Hajime can’t help but wonder if his best friend is actually an alien who’s been sent by the universe to torment him for all eternity.</p><p> </p><p>And those times include now, except Hajime’s added to the thoughts to get “botany alien” because there’s really no other reason for the single bright blue petal that’s sitting innocently on his pillow right now.</p><p> </p><p>He most definitely didn’t just cough that out either. Totally. <em>Why would anyone even think that?</em></p><p> </p><p>A strangled sound makes its way out of Hajime’s throat as he stumbles back at the sight, a stark contrast against the white of his sheets which, now that he takes a closer look, is tinted slightly red.</p><p> </p><p>Hajime takes a deep breath that only results in another coughing fit and two petals fluttering down to the ground and he pales at the realization that this… looks like it’s actually going to be a problem.</p><p> </p><p>So of course his mind goes to Tooru first, because if Hajime has one hundred problems, then most of the time, that idiot’s about ninety nine and a half of them.</p><p> </p><p>He’s a big pain; it’s not exactly anything new.</p><p> </p><p>Hajime groans, sliding to the floor with his back against the wall and hands draped over his face. The itching in his throat has stopped for now— or at least it’s a lot better than before which honestly isn’t that good either, but one can’t complain too much when they’re literally coughing up flowers.</p><p> </p><p>Right. Flowers.</p><p> </p><p>He gathers up the petals, so small in comparison to that amount of suffering that’s going to probably continue befalling him, and sighs for the umpteenth time this morning.</p><p> </p><p>Well that’s a <em>great </em>way to start his day.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Hanahaki disease.</p><p> </p><p>Almost every Google search that Hajime has made in the past half hour has pointed in that direction, and he’s pretty sure he’s found the reason for every grievance he’s had in the past hour. It only leads to even <em>more </em>questions, though— why can’t anyone ever make a simple, easy-to-understand guide on these things?</p><p> </p><p>Also, cause: unrequited love?</p><p> </p><p>What a joke.</p><p> </p><p>So Hajime does what he does best, what he has been successfully doing for more than half his life.</p><p> </p><p>He denies it.</p><p> </p><p>Because of course, there’s no way he’s so in love with his best friend that he’s started <em>coughing up flowers. </em>That doesn’t just <em>happen.</em></p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Tooru makes a show of draping himself over Hajime the moment he gets outside, providing him with an unwanted earful of complaints as always.</p><p> </p><p>“Iwa-chan,” he cries, pouting like he’s not graduating from highschool in less than a year. “Iwa-chan, how could you wake up <em>late? </em>I was relying on you! You know, you’re not being a very good husband— I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”</p><p> </p><p>Hajime smacks him. As always.</p><p> </p><p>Except there’s now a <em>fluttering </em>in his chest and oh, god, if Hajime has literal butterflies in his stomach—.</p><p> </p><p>He coughs. Tooru’s head whips over to face him, eyes wide.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh dear, is Iwa-chan getting sick? Well, I guess it’s to be expected— the weather <em>has </em>been awfully cold lately for your old age.”</p><p> </p><p>Hajime kicks him. <em>As always.</em></p><p> </p><p>Now that he thinks of it, it’s been especially cold this past week, yet today’s strangely warm, worryingly unnatural for the middle of December. That’s probably Tooru’s fault too, somehow.</p><p> </p><p>Oikawa Tooru has Hajime wrapped around his (unfairly attractive) finger, pulling him around, leading him on, and never failing to disappoint every time— and like a fool, Hajime always follows, naively wishing, hoping that maybe, just maybe, his feelings might be real this time.</p><p> </p><p>(They never are)</p><p> </p><p>Hajime ignores it. He ignores how this time of day is always the warmest no matter what, walking to school together, side by side, almost close enough to touch.</p><p> </p><p>Ignores how the warmth becomes ice— or, in this case, flowers— the moment they arrive at school and Tooru slips away to indulge in the waves of fangirls waiting for him, bustling around with their “Oikawa-san”s and “good morning”s and homemade cookies and cupcakes that that guy’s going to get cramps from later.</p><p> </p><p>Ignores how the ice becomes pain as he’s left behind to trudge on to the locker room by himself once again.</p><p> </p><p>The room smells like flowers— fresh azaleas— by the end of the day. No one mentions it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Of course Tooru’s the reason that Hajime’s going to die from flowers one day, probably sometime this month.</p><p> </p><p>And <em>of course </em>Hajime’s denial can only get him so far.</p><p> </p><p>Cure: confess and have your feelings returned, or get surgery to remove the flowers and with them, your feelings.</p><p> </p><p>There’s another way. There has to be.</p><p> </p><p>Hajime just needs to find out what.</p><p> </p><p>He refuses to give in, refuses to give up, to let Tooru win. He refuses to wither up, die, even as cold seeps into his veins and flowers continue to fill his chest, threatening to spill out at the smallest provocation.</p><p> </p><p>If Iwaizumi Hajime has one hundred and one problems, then Oikawa Tooru is one hundred and a half of them.</p><p> </p><p>But he’ll just wait it out and hopefully this’ll go away… right?</p><p> </p><p>He’ll just wait for the warmth to come back, to melt his chains of ice and frost settling over his heart. </p><p> </p><p>The cold will go away with Spring.</p><p> </p><p>Right?</p><p><br/>
(But flowers don’t melt in the Spring— they flourish and bloom, and Hajme really, <em>really </em>should have known better)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Narrator Voice: Iwaizumi Hajime (18) Highschool Student was, in simplest terms, Fucked</p><p>also yes. blue azaleas idk if they exist but i couldn't resist</p><p><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephbethallen">stephbethallen:</a> look at all of oikawa's lil cookie baking hoes<br/> </p><p>(angst train ends now i swear there will be fluff next week)</p><p>aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA okay i'm in midterm hell rn kjfhgjkf but i swear i'm trying to write some words during breaks //sobs</p><p>thank y'all for the comments omg they make me so happy! dw i'll get around to replying when i have time but just know that i love and appreciate y'all</p><p> </p><p>Here is my <a href="https://discord.gg/E8rnymG">Discord</a> and my <a href="https://itslinsanity.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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